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Friday, May 10, 2013

Puzzle Pieces

If the puzzle was in my home right now,
and if I had the time to do this all right now,
I'd be showing everyone a picture of 49 puzzle pieces marked with the names of friends that are financially supporting our adventure.

If there was a way to measure prayer, I'd show you a mamma that has a peace that surpasses all understanding.

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The Cast of Characters

Cherub Mamma (me):Work at home mom trying to juggle the needs of all the members of the house while drinking copious amounts of caffeine and trying to not eat too much chocolate.

Mr. Amazing is the wonderful man that I've been married to for 21 years. He's a terrific husband and an amazing father to all of our children. Our marriage is something I am thankful for every day of my life.

Cherub 1 (AKA Herman): 18 year old boy. Amazing son of mine that is a true teenager! One moment he's mature, responsible and a contributing member of society. Then, in the next moment, I'm scared to death for his future and I feel like a failure of a parent. Herman is a kind and compassionate kid who is a wonderful big brother. Herman has ADHD and depression that is relatively well managed.

Cherub 2 (AKA TT): 11 year old boy. TT is incredibly insightful for his age. He looks at life differently than most. He is active and rambunctious. He's also my favorite cuddle bug. TT was our first foster placement ever when we fostered in Iowa. He was adopted at birth. TT struggles significantly with anxiety and was recently diagnosed with dyslexia.

Cherub 3 (AKA Bart): 10 year old boy. Talks more than anyone you'll ever meet. Is the happiest child I've ever known...except when he's ticked off. Bart is very positive and has an outlook on life that many in the world would benefit from if they could be a little like him. (According to my mother we should all #LiveLifeLikeBart.) Bart seems to find joy in the smallest of things. He also has significant ADHD (heavy on the "H") and keeps me on my toes!!

Foster Placements:

(January 26, 2015 - March 2, 2015)The Neverland Kids stayed such a short time because respite homes couldn't be found when my father suddenly passed away. I needed to make an urgent trip across the country and CPS insisted that I disrupt vs. respite care and return to me. It was not my choice to disrupt but I had to be there for my forever family!Captain: 5 year old boy. Oldest of a large sibling group (not all placed with us) including Pirate and Tinkerbell. He suffered a horrific trauma and we're all just getting to know each other. Pirate: 3 year old boy. Speaks a mix of English, Spanish and gibberish. Definitely needs speech therapy. He's very active and so far needs a lot of redirection.Tinkerbell: 13 month old little girl. Perfect baby in every way if you don't factor in the horrific trauma she was a part of. She has seen things that if I saw would make me a shell of a human being for a long, long time.(December 2013 - October 2014)Daisy: Came to me at 7 months old and left the day before her 17 month old "birthday". Daisy is a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Caring for Daisy involved lots of work with specialists and therapists for PT, OT, ST and vision. When she left she functioned at about the developmental age of 8-12 months. (She was learning to walk but couldn't self-feed well at all and had almost no language.) Daisy went home to her mother, Kori. I pray daily that Kori is able to meet all of Daisy's needs and that she is able to protect Daisy from future abuse.Daisy came back in to foster care February 24, 2015 along with her newborn sister, Dandelion. CPS was finally able to get enough evidence that Kori was allowing contact between Daisy and her abuser. Sadly, my home was full with the Neverland Kids and I couldn't welcome Daisy back. My agency also wouldn't let me disrupt the Neverland Kids to take Daisy (as my relationship with Daisy had been much longer and so few homes are capable of meeting Daisy's medical needs). The Flower Girls initially went to a shelter. I was given no information about their new foster home when they were finally placed several days later.

(May 30, 2014 - June 20, 2014)Wispy: 20 month old little boy (when he was with us) who is tall and thin and has beautiful, blond, wispy hair. He arrived on a Friday night because his current foster family was in need of emergency respite care. He was supposed to stay three nights. The situation changed though and his first foster family is no longer going to foster. After much prayer, Mr. Amazing and I decided to make our house his home so he wouldn't have to move again and find yet another mommy in his life. CPS thought differently though and in order to make their paperwork easier, they moved him away from us back to his home county.

(December 2013 - May 2014)Ricky: Came to me at age 16 and left six months later at age 17. He's a victim of The System and - seriously - did not need to be in formal foster care. But due to the courts and things that happened beyond anyone's (except the judge's) real control, he was with us instead of with his godmother. At the hearing in May 2014, the judge finally saw reason when CPS couldn't give a good reason for him to not be with his godmother. He's still in foster care but will now age out where he belongs. We remain in a lot of contact!

(June 2011 to Sept. 2013)Much was written about these two wonderful children. Our hopes of intervening in their case and ultimately adopting them were dashed in September 2013. The children live with their grandmother in a situation that was never proven to be safe.-- as of October 2014, these cherubs are still in foster care with their grandmother. She has not been given full custody yet. I pray for them often.Dolly: Came to me at 3 1/2 and left the day before she turned 6. Sister to Dude. Gorgeous little girl that loves babies more than anything. Has a charming smile and a twinkle in her eye.Dude: Came to me at 2 1/2 and left at age 5. Brother to Dolly. Adorable dimples make his smiles melt my heart.

(Jan. 2, 2011 to Sept. 2, 2011)(Sept. 13, 2011 to Sept. 21, 2012)Pumpkin Pie: Came to me at 5 1/2 years old and was 7 when she left. Pumpkin was easy to care for but was very developmentally delayed. She functions around the age 18-24 months. Pumpkin completely opened my eyes to special needs parenting and the joys (cough cough) of special education. After much needless waiting and System screw ups, Pumpkin was finally placed with a very loving aunt and uncle.

(Sept. to Nov. 2010)MissArguePants: 8 year old (at the time) foster daughter. Textbook case of PTSD, ODD, anxiety and attachment disorder. Made life very interesting!TurtleTurtle: 9 year old (at the time) foster daughter. Diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression and more. Also made for an interesting parenting experience!--- MissArguePants and TurtleTurtle left our home after boundaries were crossed that threatened the safety of our forever children.

Other Characters:Mr. Wonky: not an actual person, but rather a state of dysregulation. Mr. Wonky "visits" our home regularly. He will visit all my kids from time to time. But he likes to complicate things for Cherub 2 the most.

Rainbow: currently the recruiter at our licensing agency. Prior to her current title though, Rainbow was our actual licensing worker. She has known our family for many years. She's the reason we're staying with our current agency as opposed licensing through a new one.

Cheerleader: currently the placing worker at our licensing agency. However, because our agency is incredibly small, and because they have extremely high turn-over, Cheerleader is also our family's licensing worker. She meets with the kids in our home as required by their plan and makes sure we're following all the minimum standards.